Lovina

Movin' along and doin' my thang, I arrived in Lovina, a sleepy town on a black sand beach in the northern, central coast of Bali. The almost broken down bus took only a few hours, so it wasn't terrible. People mostly hire private transport to places around Bali, but I really enjoy using public transportation. Back in Thailand, I made a decision to use the same transportation the locals do, and I learned a lot about the culture that way. It's great to sit on an old smelly bus with torn up seats, just watching everyone else do their thing. Some women are carrying with them fruits from the market, some little boys are going to school, some old men seem to just be sitting doing whatever. It's fascinating, really... small pleasures.

Lovina is nothing special. The black sand, due to the volcano, is cool to see but the water is kind of nasty and the beach itself isn't great. The town is very quiet with not alot of people, either. But Lovina is in a great spot in Bali, so close to beautiful scenery and small villages. The motor biking has been unbelievable, going through mountains and miles upon miles of rice paddies. The shades of green are amazing.

I saw cock fighting yesterday. It was intense and brutal. The rules here are a lot different from the fights I saw in the Dominican Republic. They follow more of a boxing set up with a ten count to see if the injured chicken can stand up. Here, the cocks have these huge three inch blades attached to their talons, where as in the Dominican there were short blunt spikes attached. Therefore, the fights were quick... these chickens caught one good slash, and it was lights out. There was no pulling a Rocky Balboa and fighting one more round, hurt and beat up. I won't post the video in case there are some PETA Playaz reading, but it was a scene to be watched. Half the fun was watching the Balinese surrounding the ring, betting, cheering, and just making noise.

Below is a picture of a great stretch of rice fields and a farmer just happy being a farmer.